Latino families in east Chula Vista will soon have an option for assisted living facilities where abuelitos and abuelitas can live independently in a warm and welcoming community.

The fourstory St. Paul’s Plaza, to be constructed on East Palomar St., will house 156 rooms in Phase I and is scheduled to open June 2015. Phase II will add another 63 apartments to the community.

A project of St. Paul’s Senior Homes & Services, which has been serving seniors in San Diego for more than 50 years, St. Paul’s Plaza broke ground at a ceremony held on Tuesday, January 7th.

The community will bring 60 unique and innovative Memory Care apartments to Chula Vista, and 94 assisted and independent living accommodations. Residents will have more privacy and control over their lives because the institutional nursing home model will be replaced with small intentional communities or “homes” where seniors and staff focus on living full and vibrant lives. Each home includes 10 private rooms with bathrooms; a living room, kitchen and open dining area.

This is the perfect setting for Latino seniors because Latino families prefer this type of living facilities as opposed to the more traditional convalescent homes, said Mercedes Margritz, bilingual community outreach specialist for St. Paul’s Senior Homes & Services.

“Our culture has always put a lot of emphasis in that our senior relatives don’t end up at a convalescent home,” she said minutes the groundbreaking ceremony, which was attended by local elected officials. “Our Latino seniors usually want to live independent lives, with some help, but they still want to feel independent. They’re very strong; they’re very hard-working well into their senior years.”

Margritz said that St. Paul’s Plaza will have a similar ethnic demographic to St. Paul’s PACE, located on L St. in Chula Vista.

She said that about 80 percent of all residents at St. Paul’s PACE Chula Vista is of Latino origin.

“Our seniors have the option of keep on spending a lot of time with their families, while living independently,” she said.

“They have a vibrant community of neighbors, but if they need help with something in their daily lives, there’s help available.”

Chula Vista is a city located in the South Bay with more than 50 percent of its population being Latino. East Chula Vista, where St. Paul’s Plaza will be built, is home to a more affluent population of Latinos, professionals, business-owners, as well as entrepreneur immigrants from Baja California.

“St. Paul’s Plaza will be for middle-class residents,” Margritz said.

The community will also offer an indoor therapy pool, beauty parlor, chapel, pub, and extensive community areas including a 150 person multipurpose/event room and family style gathering areas with barbeque facilities and a children’s play ground.

“There is no other place like St. Paul’s Plaza in San Diego County,” said Cheryl Wilson, St. Paul’s Senior Homes & Services CEO. “We even have a community pub where families can have a drink and watch the game together or enjoy coffee and read the paper. The goal of St. Paul’s Plaza is to bring families and communities together.”

During the groundbreaking ceremony, Wilson acknowledged the City of Chula Vista for its strong support for the project.

In attendance was Mayor Cheryl Cox, who said she was impressed with St. Paul’s Plaza.

“I’ve never seen a senior assisted living facility with a pub,” said Cox, laughing.

The Plaza will bring 60 jobs to the Chula Vista community and will be open for neighborhood use. Other amenities at St. Paul’s Plaza will include a large public dining room and a smaller private dining room for families who want to dine privately with their loved one.

The four and a half acre retirement community will start grading in January 2014 and is scheduled to open in June of 2015. The project has been eighteen months in the planning and will cost $43 million.

For more information on St. Paul’s Plaza, please call (619) 239-6900 or visit www.StPaul seniors.org.